KR20210057214A - Network topology initialization apparatus and method for wireless mesh network - Google Patents

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system for supporting a higher data rate after a 4th generation (4G) communication system such as long term evolution (LTE). The method of a network entity for communicating with a mesh network includes, from the communication node of the mesh network, the network topology of the mesh network and the angle separation of antenna panels of multiple communication nodes within the mesh network. ), the process of identifying a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes, and the number of available channels is the number of links of each communication node The process of determining whether the value is greater than or equal to a value related to a value of 1 plus 1, and when the number of available channels is less than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of each communication node, the mesh network Identifying at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes based on a network topology and a threshold, and transmitting a channel allocation decision to the communication node based on the at least one potential connection of the communication node can do.

Description

Network topology initialization apparatus and method for wireless mesh network

This disclosure generally relates to a network topology initialization protocol. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a wireless mesh network topology initialization protocol.

4G (4 ^th generation) to meet the traffic demand in the radio data communication system increases since the commercialization trend, efforts to develop improved 5G (5 ^th generation) communication system, or pre-5G communication system have been made. For this reason, a 5G communication system or a pre-5G communication system is called a beyond 4G network communication system or a long term evolution (LTE) system and a post LTE system.

In order to achieve a high data rate, 5G communication systems are being considered for implementation in an ultra-high frequency (mmWave) band (eg, such as a 60 gigabyte (60 GHz) band). In order to mitigate the path loss of radio waves in the ultra-high frequency band and increase the transmission distance of radio waves, 5G communication systems include beamforming, massive MIMO, and full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO). ), array antenna, analog beam-forming, and large scale antenna technologies are being discussed.

In addition, in order to improve the network of the system, in 5G communication system, advanced small cell, advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network , Device to device communication (D2D), wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), and interference cancellation And other technologies are being developed.

In addition, in the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC), which are advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), an advanced access technology. ), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) have been developed.

The E-UTRAN may support a relay operation using a relay base station or RN wirelessly connected to an eNB serving a relay node (RN) referred to as a donor eNodeB (DeNB) or a donor base station. In the case of a next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN), the wireless backhaul link or network support is expected to be part of the advanced LTE specification of the new radio (NR) standard. The operating frequency band of the wireless backhaul link or network may be UHF (ultra high frequency) (300MHz-3GHz), SHF (super high frequency) (3GHz-30GHz), or EHF (extremely high frequency) (30-300GHz). The wireless backhaul link or network may be based on wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11ad and/or 802.11ay.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a network topology initialization protocol for a wireless mesh network.

A network entity for communicating with a mesh network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a transceiver and a processor operably connected to the transceiver, and the processor is, from a communication node of the mesh network, Receiving information including a network topology of a mesh network and angle separation of antenna panels of a plurality of communication nodes in the mesh network, each communication node of the plurality of communication nodes in the mesh network Identify a value related to the number of links of, and determine whether the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node plus 1, and the number of available channels is the respective If it is less than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of the communication node of, at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes is identified based on the network topology and a threshold value of the mesh network, and May be configured to transmit a channel allocation decision to the communication node based on the at least one potential connection of.

A communication node of a mesh network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a transceiver and a processor operably connected to the transceiver, and the processor includes angular separation of antenna panels of a plurality of communication nodes of the mesh network ( angle separation) and the network topology of the mesh network to a network entity, and receiving a channel allocation determination based on at least one potential connection of the communication node from the network entity, and the channel allocation determination Is determined based on whether the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes, plus 1, and the at least one potential connection is If it is less than a value related to the number of links of the communication node plus 1, it is identified based on the network topology and the threshold value of the mesh network, and a value related to the number of links of each communication node can be identified. have.

A method of operating a network entity to communicate with a mesh network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes, from a communication node of the mesh network, a network topology of the mesh network and a plurality of communication within the mesh network. The process of receiving information including the angle separation of the antenna panels of the nodes, and the process of identifying a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes in the mesh network, and use A process of determining whether the number of possible channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node plus 1, and the number of available channels is a value related to the number of links of each communication node If less than a value of plus 1, the process of identifying at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes based on the network topology and threshold value of the mesh network and the at least one potential connection of the communication node Thus, it may include a process of transmitting the channel allocation decision to the communication node.

Other technical features may be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following drawings, description and claims.

Before the detailed description below, definitions of specific words and phrases used in the present disclosure are defined. The term “couple” and its derivatives mean direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, regardless of whether the two or more elements are in physical contact. The terms “transmit”, “receive” and “communicate” and their derivatives mean both direct and indirect communication. The term “include or comprise” and its derivatives mean inclusion without limitation. The term “or” is inclusive and may mean “and/or”. The phrase "associated with" and its derivatives include, contain within, interconnect, communicate, cooperate together, interleave, juxtapose, contiguous, associate, possess, possess characteristic, relationship, or similar. May contain meaning. The term "controller" refers to all devices, systems, or parts thereof that control at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and/or firmware. Functions related to a particular controller can be centralized or distributed, whether local or remote. The phrase “at least one” may mean that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and that only one item in the list may be required. For example, "at least one of A, B, C" may include A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, A and B and C.

Moreover, various functions described below may be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which may be formed of computer-readable program code, and may be implemented in a computer-readable medium. “Application” and “Program” are adopted to be implemented in one or more computer programs, software components, instruction sets, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data or computer readable program code. It can mean that part of it. "Computer-readable program code" may include all types of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer-readable medium" includes any type of computer that can access your computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard disk drive, compact disc (CD), or digital video disc (DVD). Media may be included. “Non-transitory computer readable medium” may exclude wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transmit transient electrical or other signals. Non-transitory computer-readable media may include media on which data can be permanently stored and media on which data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disk or an erasable memory device.

Definitions for other specific words and phrases are provided in this disclosure. Those of skill in the art should understand that such defined words and phrases apply to previous and future uses.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a more effective network topology initialization channel measurement method.

For a more complete understanding of the content of the disclosure and its advantages, reference is made to the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like parts.
1 shows an exemplary wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
2 shows an exemplary base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
3 shows an exemplary terminal according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
4A shows a high level diagram of a transmit path circuit.
4B shows a high level diagram of a receive path circuit.
5 illustrates a wireless network having a relay base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
6 illustrates a multi-hop backhaul network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
7 illustrates a multi-hop backhaul and access network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
8 illustrates a network initialization process according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
9 shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
10A shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 1 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
10B shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 2 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
10C shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 3 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
10D shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 4 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
10E shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 5 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
11 illustrates a network topology after measurement according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
12 shows the network topology after applying the second approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13A shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13B shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes of time instance 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13C shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes of time instance 3 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13D shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 4 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13E shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 5 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13F shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 6 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13G shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 7 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13H shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 8 according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
13I shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
14 shows process 1 of a third approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
15 shows a process 2 of a third approach (order based discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
16 shows a process 2 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
17 shows a process 3 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
18 shows a process 4 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
19 shows a process 5 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
20 shows another process 5 of the third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
21 shows a tree generated based on a third approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
22 is a flowchart illustrating a third approach method according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
23 illustrates a configuration of a transmission and reception pattern over time according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
24 illustrates a network topology after a first pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
25 illustrates over-pruning according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
26 illustrates a network topology after a second pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
27 illustrates another network topology after a second pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
28A illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Tx according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
28B illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
28C illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Tx-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
29A illustrates a TDD-based protocol of Multi-Tx according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
29B illustrates a TDD-based protocol of Multi-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
30 illustrates channel allocation in a street grid network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
31 illustrates channel allocation in a hexagonal grid network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
32A shows the original network topology and corresponding line graphs for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
32B shows another original network topology and a corresponding line graph for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
32C shows another original network topology and a corresponding line graph for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
33 illustrates channel allocation in a street grid network having two channels according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
34 is a flowchart of a channel allocation method according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
35A illustrates polarity assignment of a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
35B illustrates a network flow problem with an artificial source node and a sink node according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
36 is a flowchart of a polarity allocation method according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
37 illustrates a network architecture having a direct control channel between a CCC and an NW node according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
38 shows a network architecture 3800 without a direct control channel between a CCC and an NW node according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
39 illustrates a state machine for network topology management according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
40 illustrates a signaling flow between a control center and a mesh node for topology calculation according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
41 illustrates a network topology functional flow diagram in CCC according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
42 illustrates a network topology functional block diagram in CCC according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
43A shows a flow diagram at the control center for the overall routing and topology formula according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
43B shows a flow diagram at the control center for the overall routing and topology formulation according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
44 illustrates a signal flow between a control center and a mesh node for routing and topology according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
45 illustrates a mesh node software architecture in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
46 illustrates an information flow between a control center and a mesh node according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
47 illustrates a network node architecture (state machine) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
48 illustrates a multi-thread architecture of network management according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
49 illustrates a GUI for a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
50 illustrates an example system architecture of a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
51A illustrates a TDD solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
51B illustrates an FDD solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
51C illustrates a TDMA solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
51D illustrates an FDMA solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

1 to 51D discussed below and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be construed in a way that limits the scope of the present disclosure. Those of skill in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

The following documents and standard documents may be incorporated herein as fully described in this disclosure. 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) TS (technical specification) 36.212 v12.2.0 "E-UTRA, multiplexing and channel coding", 3GPP TS 36.213 v12.3.0, "E-UTRA, physical layer procedure", 3GPP TS 36.331 v12.3.0 , "E-UTRA, radio resource control (RRC) protocol specification", 3GPP TS 36.300 v15.3.0, "E-UTRA and E-UTRAN, overall description, stage 2".

4G (4 ^th generation) to meet the traffic demand in the radio data communication system increases since the commercialization trend, efforts to develop improved 5G (5 ^th generation) communication system, or pre-5G communication system have been made. For this reason, a 5G communication system or a pre-5G communication system is called a beyond 4G network communication system or a long term evolution (LTE) system and a post LTE system.

In order to achieve a high data rate, 5G communication systems are being considered for implementation in an ultra-high frequency (mmWave) band (eg, such as a 60 gigabyte (60 GHz) band). In order to mitigate the path loss of radio waves in the ultra-high frequency band and increase the transmission distance of radio waves, 5G communication systems include beamforming, massive MIMO, and full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO). ), array antenna, analog beam-forming, and large scale antenna technologies are being discussed.

In addition, in order to improve the network of the system, in 5G communication system, advanced small cell, advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network , Device to device communication (D2D), wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), and interference cancellation And other technologies are being developed.

In addition, in the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC), which are advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), an advanced access technology. ), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) have been developed.

1 to 4B below describe various embodiments implemented in a wireless communication system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDAM) communication technology. The description of FIGS. 1 to 3 does not imply a physical or structural limitation on how different embodiments may be implemented. Other embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged communication system.

1 shows an exemplary wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network may include an eNB (eNodeB) 101, an eNB 102, and an eNB 103. The eNB 101 can communicate with the eNB 102 and the eNB 103. The eNB 101 may also communicate with at least one network 130 of the Internet, a proprietary internet protocol (IP) network, or another network.

The eNB 102 may provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of terminals within the coverage area 120 of the eNB 102. The first plurality of terminals are located in a terminal 111 that can be located in a small business (SB), a terminal 112 that can be located in an enterprise (E), and a WiFi hot spot (HS). A terminal 113 that can be located, a terminal 114 that can be located in a first residence (R), a terminal 115 that can be located in a second residence, and a mobile phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA). It may include a terminal 116, which may be a mobile device (M) such as an assistant) or the like. The eNB 103 may provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the second plurality of terminals within the coverage area 125 of the eNB 103. The second plurality of terminals include the terminal 115 and the terminal. 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the eNBs 101-103 is 5G (5th generation), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-A), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), wireless fidelity (WiFi), or other wireless communication technologies to communicate with each other or terminals 111-116 ) And can communicate.

Depending on the network type, the base station is "TP (transmit point)", "TRP (transmit-receive point)", "eNB (enhanced base station)", "gNB (5G base station)", "macro cell", It may mean any configuration configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as "femtocell" and "WiFi access point". The base station has radio access according to one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., 5G 3GPP new radio (NR) interface/access, LTE, LTE-A, high speed packet access (HSPA), WiFi 802.11a/b). /g/n/ac)) can be provided. For convenience, a base station and a TRP may be used interchangeably in this disclosure to refer to a network infrastructure that provides wireless access to remote terminals. In addition, depending on the network type, the terminal may be "user equipment", "mobile station", "subscriber station", "remote terminal", and "wireless terminal". , May be referred to as “receive point”, or “user device”. For convenience, in this disclosure, it may be used to refer to a remote wireless device that wirelessly accesses a base station regardless of whether the terminal is a mobile device (eg, mobile phone or smart phone) or a fixed device (eg, a desktop computer or vending machine). .

The dotted line shown in a circle represents an approximate range of the coverage areas 120 and 125. It should be understood that an area related to a base station, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have different shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on changes in the configuration of the base station, nature, and human-related wireless environments.

As described in more detail below, one or more of the terminals 111-116 may include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof for an efficient network topology initialization protocol in a wireless communication system. In certain embodiments, one or more of the base stations 101-103 may include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof for an efficient network topology initialization procedure in a wireless communication system.

1 shows an example of a wireless network, but various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, a wireless network may include any number of base stations and any number of terminals in any suitable arrangement. Further, the base station 101 may communicate directly with any number of terminals and may provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 to these terminals. Similarly, each of the base stations 102 and 103 may communicate directly with the network 130 and provide terminals with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Additionally, base stations 101-103 may provide access to external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

2 shows an exemplary base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the base station 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the base stations 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, base stations are provided in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the base station.

2, the base station 102 includes multiple antennas 205a-205n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 210a-210n, a transmit (TX) processing circuit 215 and a receive, RX) may include a processing circuit 220. The base station 102 may also include a controller/processor 225, a memory 230, and a backhaul/network interface (IF) 235.

The RF transceivers 210a-210n may receive an RF signal, such as a signal transmitted by a terminal in the network 100, from the antennas 205a-205n. The RF transceivers 210a-210n may down-convert an incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal may be transmitted to an RX processing circuit 220 that generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 220 may transmit the processed baseband signal to the controller/processor 225 for further processing.

The TX processing circuit 215 may receive analog or digital data (eg, voice data, web data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller/processor 225. The TX processing circuit 215 may encode, multiplex, and/or digitize outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceivers 210a-210n may receive processed baseband or IF signals, and up-convert the baseband or IF signals into RF signals transmitted through the antennas 205a-205n.

The controller/processor 225 may include one or more processors or other processing units that control the overall operation of the base station 102. For example, the controller/processor 225 may receive forward channel signals and reverse channel signals by RF transceivers 210a-210n, RX processing circuit 220 and TX processing circuit 215 according to well-known principles. You can control the transmission of them. The controller/processor 225 may also support additional functions, such as more advanced wireless communication functions. For example, the controller/processor 225 may support beamforming or directional routing operations to control signals from multiple antennas 205a-205n to travel in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions may be supported in base station 102 by controller/processor 225.

The controller/processor 225 may also execute programs and other processes residing in memory 230 such as an operating system (OS). Controller/processor 225 can move data into and out of memory 230 as required through an execution processor.

The controller/processor 225 can also be connected to the backhaul/network interface 235. The backhaul/network interface 235 allows the base station 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or network. Interface 235 may support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connections. For example, when the base station 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as 5G, LTE or LTE-A), the interface 235 allows the base station 102 to communicate with other base stations via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. You can do it. When the base station 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 235 may allow the base station 102 to communicate with a larger network (eg, the Internet) over a wired or wireless local area network, wired or wireless connection. Interface 235 may include any suitable structure that supports communication over wired or wireless connections, such as Ethernet or RF transceivers.

The memory 230 may be connected to the controller/processor 225. A portion of the memory 230 may include random access memory (RAM). Another portion of the memory 230 may include a flash memory or another read only memory (ROM).

2 illustrates an example of the base station 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the base station 102 may include any of the components shown in FIG. 2. As a specific example, the access point may include multiple interfaces 235 and the controller/processor 225 may support a routing function to route data between different network addresses. As another example, although a single instance of the TX processing circuit 215 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 220 are shown to be included, the base station 102 has multiple instances of each (e.g., one per RF transceiver). Can include. In addition, various components of FIG. 2 may be combined with other components, subdivided, or omitted.

3 shows an exemplary terminal according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the terminal 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the terminals 111 to 115 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, the terminal may be provided in various configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of the terminal.

As shown in Figure 3, the terminal 116 is an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, a TX (transmit) processing circuit 315, a microphone 320, and a reception (receive, RX) processing Circuit 325 may be included. The terminal 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/0) interface (IF) 345, a touch screen 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. Can include. The memory 360 may include an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362.

The RF transceiver 310 may receive a received RF signal transmitted by the base station of the network 100 from the antenna 305. The RF transceiver 310 may down-convert an incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal may be transmitted to an RX processing circuit 325 that generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and/or digitizing the IF or baseband signal. The RX processing circuit 325 may transmit the processed baseband signal to the speaker 330 (eg, voice data) or the processor 340 (eg, web browsing data).

The TX processing circuit 315 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 320 and may receive other baseband data (eg, web data, email or interactive video game data) from the processor 340. The TX processing circuit 315 may encode, multiplex and/or digitize the baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 310 may receive the transmitted baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 315 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted through the antenna 305.

The processor 340 may execute other processes and programs residing in the memory 360, such as a process for reporting channel state information (CSI) for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). Processor 340 may move data into and out of memory 360 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 340 may be configured to execute the application 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to a signal received from an operator. Processor 340 is also coupled to I/O interface 345, which may provide terminal 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I/O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 340.

Processor 340 may also be coupled to touch screen 350 and display 355. An operator of the terminal 116 may use the touch screen 350 to enter data into the terminal 116. The display 355 may be a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display, or a display capable of rendering characters and/or at least limited graphics from a website.

The memory 360 may be coupled to the processor 340. A part of the memory 360 may include random access memory (RAM), and the other part may include flash memory or read only memory (ROM).

3 illustrates an example of the terminal 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components of FIG. 3 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific needs. As a specific example, the processor 340 may be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). In addition, although FIG. 3 illustrates the terminal 116 configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, it may be configured to operate as another type of mobile or stationary device.

4A shows a high level diagram of a transmit path circuit. For example, the transmission path circuit may be used for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication. 4B shows a high level diagram of a receive path circuit. For example, the receive path circuit can be used for OFDMA communication. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, for downlink communication, the transmission path circuit may be implemented in the base station 102 or the relay station, and the receive path circuit may be implemented in the terminal 116. In other examples, for uplink communication, the receive path circuit may be implemented in the base station 102, and the transmit path circuit may be implemented in the terminal 116.

The transmission path circuit 400 includes a channel coding and modulation block 405, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, a size N inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT). ) Block 415, a parallel-serial (P-to-S) block 420, a cyclic prefix (CP) block 425, an up-converter (UC) block 430. The receive path circuit 450 includes a down-converter (DC) block 455, a CP removal block 460, a serial-parallel (S-to-P) block 465, and a size N fast Fourier transform (fast). A fourier transform (FFT) block 470, a parallel-serial (P-to-S) block 475, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 480 may be included.

Some of the components of FIGS. 4A and 4B may be implemented by software, and other components may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In particular, the FFT block and IFFT block described in the present disclosure may be implemented with a configurable software algorithm, where the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

In addition, although the present disclosure relates to an embodiment of implementing a transform in FFT and IFFT, this is for illustration only, and is not construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the FFT function and the IFFT function may be easily replaced with a discrete fourier transform (DFT) function and an inverse discrete fourier transform (IDFT) function, respectively. For DFT and IDFT functions, N can be any integer (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4), whereas for FFT and IFFT functions, N is a power of 2 (e.g. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16).

In the transmission path circuit 400, the channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (e.g., low-density parity check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (e.g.: A sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols can be generated by quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The serial-parallel block 410 converts the serially modulated symbols into parallel data (e.g., demultiplexing) to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT/ This is the FFT size. The size N IFFT block 415 may generate time-domain output signals by performing an IFFT operation on N parallel symbol streams. The parallel-serial block 420 may convert (eg, multiplex) parallel time-domain output symbols from the size N IFFT block 415 to generate serial time-domain signals. The CP block 425 may insert a CP into a time-domain signal. The UC 430 may modulate (eg, up-convert) the output of the CP block 425 to an RF frequency for transmission through a wireless channel. The signal may be filtered in baseband before being converted to an RF frequency.

The transmitted RF signal arrives at the terminal 116 after passing through the radio channel, and the reverse operation in the base station 102 may be performed. The DC 455 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the CP removal block 460 may remove the CP to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The serial-parallel block 465 may convert a time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The size N FFT block 470 may perform an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The parallel-serial block 475 may convert parallel frequency-domain signals into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 480 may demodulate and decode the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of the base stations 101-103 can implement a transmission path similar to that transmitted to the terminals 111-116 in downlink, and can implement a reception path similar to that received in the uplink from terminals 111-116. . Similarly, each of the terminals 111-116 can implement a transmission path corresponding to the architecture for transmitting to the base station 101-103 in the uplink, and to the architecture for receiving in the downlink from the base station 101-103. A corresponding receive path can be implemented.

The communication system may include a downlink for transmitting a signal from a transmission point such as a base station to a terminal and an uplink for transmitting a signal from the terminal to a receiving point such as a base station. In general, the terminal may be a fixed type or a mobile type, and may be a mobile phone or personal computer device. In general, a fixed base station may also be referred to as an access point or other equivalent term.

5 illustrates a wireless network having a relay base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 500 shown in FIG. 5 is for illustration only, and FIG. 5 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

5, the RN 530 may be wirelessly connected to a base station serving an RN (eg, a donor eNB (eNodeB) (DeNB) or a donor base station (BS) 510). RN E-UTRA (evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access) radio interface and the radio protocol of the S1 and X2 interfaces can be terminated In addition to the eNB function, the RN wirelessly connects to the DeNB. It may support a subset of the terminal functions (eg, physical layer, layer-2, radio resource control (RRC), non-access stratum (NAS) functions). It may be directly serviced or may be serviced by an RN like the terminal 540. In the case of in-band relay operation, a wireless backhaul link to the RN (eg, the UN interface 513) and radio access to the DeNB and RN Links 511 and 531 may share the same frequency band.

6 illustrates a multi-hop backhaul network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the multi-hop backhaul network 600 shown in FIG. 6 is for illustration only, and FIG. 6 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

A wireless multi-hop or mesh network may be formed using a network of one or more donor base stations and one or more relays. In one example, the mesh backhaul network may transmit traffic from an optical fiber gateway to a fixed access point (eg, a distribution point for a local building/home network) as shown in FIG. 6.

7 illustrates a multi-hop backhaul and access network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the multi-hop backhaul and access network 700 shown in FIG. 7 is for illustration only, and FIG. 7 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, relay nodes may serve as mesh network nodes for backhaul as well as access points for mobile users as shown in FIG. 7. The access frequency and backhaul frequency may or may not be the same.

To deploy a wireless network of a donor base station (BS) and a relay node, a protocol for initializing or configuring a network connecting one or more donor base stations and one or more relay nodes is required. The goal of the protocol is to perform a network node discovery and to see if more than one link can be established between the discovered node pairs. One or more links may be established between the two nodes. When multiple panels or sectors are mounted in each node, each panel or sector can be used for a link. In another example, a panel or sector of a node may establish multiple links (eg, when a node is an access point (AP) or a base station (eg, eNB, gNB)).

8 illustrates a network initialization process according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network initialization process 800 shown in FIG. 8 is for illustration only, and FIG. 8 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Network initialization can be formulated as a two-step process, namely, network node discovery in step 1 and mesh network topology formation in step 2.

The protocol described in the present disclosure may also be applied as a network topology update mechanism. A physical signal/channel used for node discovery may be referred to as a discovery radio signal. The discovery radio signal is a beacon signal defined in IEEE 802.11 radio access technology (RAT) or a synchronization signal for long term evolution (LTE) (e.g., a primary synchronization signal, a secondary synchronization signal, a common reference signal). , Discovery signal) or a synchronization signal (eg, a synchronization signal block, a tracking reference signal) for NR (new radio).

In the first approach of network discovery, a node in the network may be configured as a transmitter that transmits discovery radio signals for detection and measurement of the remaining nodes configured as receivers. For example, in a first instance, a first node may be configured to broadcast a radio signal, and another node may be configured to detect and measure a radio signal transmitted by the first node.

In a second instance, the second node may be configured to broadcast a radio signal, and another node (including the first node) may be configured to detect and measure the radio signal transmitted by the second node (if detected). Only one node per instance is configured as a broadcast node, and the other node may be a listening node. Assuming that there are N nodes, each node can complete the protocol at one instance broadcasting a radio signal and at N time instances with N-1 instances detecting and measuring radio signals.

The link quality measurement metric is radio signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP) of LTE or NR, received signal strength (RSS), received signal strength indicator (RSSI)) of WiFi or WiGig) or signal-to-noise (SNR). ratio). Link quality measurements can be reported by the node to the network control node. The measurement report may be transmitted to the network control node through another channel, such as Ethernet or another wireless channel.

9 shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 900 shown in FIG. 9 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, in operation 905, a node that has not broadcast a radio signal may be configured to broadcast a radio signal, and all other radio nodes may be configured to detect a radio signal. In operation 910, if a radio signal is detected by the node, the signal may be measured. In operation 915, it may be determined whether the remaining nodes have not broadcast a radio signal. In operation 915, if the other nodes have broadcast a radio signal, operation 905 may be performed. In operation 951, if the other nodes have not broadcast a radio signal, operation 920 may be performed. In operation 920, the measurement result may be reported to a network control node that performs an algorithm that determines the final set of links to be configured.

To manage reporting overhead, only measurement results that exceed a predefined (or configured) threshold should be reported. In the process of forming a network topology, the network control node may perform an algorithm for determining a final link set that can be configured according to a link measurement result and a network performance target. The protocol diagram is shown in FIG. 9. Instead of reporting a measurement after all nodes have completed the transmission phase, a measurement result report may be performed immediately after the radio signal is detected and measured.

10A shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 1 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 1002 shown in FIG. 10A is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10A, node 1 is configured as an access point (AP) and may transmit radio signals sensed by nodes 2 and 4.

10B shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 2 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 1004 shown in FIG. 10B is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10B, node 2 is configured as an access point (AP) and may transmit radio signals sensed by nodes 3 and 5.

10C shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 3 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 1006 shown in FIG. 10C is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10C, node 3 is configured as an access point (AP), and may transmit radio signals sensed by nodes 2, 4, and 5.

10D shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 4 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 1008 shown in FIG. 10D is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10D, node 4 is configured as an access point (AP), and may transmit radio signals sensed by nodes 1, 3, and 5.

10E shows a first approach of a network initialization protocol of time instance 5 for 5 nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the first approach 1010 shown in FIG. 10E is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10E, FIG. 5 is configured with an access point (AP) and may transmit radio signals sensed by node 2, node 3, and node 4. Referring to FIG.

The protocol can be further described in FIGS. 10A-10E with the examples below. In this example, it is assumed that a node configured to perform discovery signal broadcasting is configured as an AP (access point), whereas a node configured to detect and measure a signal is configured as an STA (station) in the WiFi or WiGig technology. . In the case of long term evolution (LTE) or new radio (NR) technology, the node may be replaced by a base station and a terminal for the transmitter and receiver nodes, respectively. It may be extended to a node operating in a peer-to-peer (P2P) mode in which the STA can broadcast a discovery signal. Alternatively, the node does not need to assume the identity of the AP or STA, and instead, the node may be classified as a transmitter or a receiver. The arrows in FIGS. 10A-10E may indicate detection and measurement activity of a radio signal from a transmitter node.

The measurement results obtained for each time instance are shown in the following five tables. The values of Tables 1 to 5 may indicate signal strength, where a larger value means better signal strength.

11 illustrates a network topology after measurement according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology 1100 shown in FIG. 11 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

After reporting the measurement results, the results shown in Table 5 can be used in the network control node performing the final link selection. The network topology representation is shown in FIG. 11.

When a large number of nodes are deployed, a network initialization protocol for multiple clusters of nodes can be performed at the same time. The clusters of nodes may not overlap spatially (ie they may be sufficiently separated geographically).

In the second approach of network discovery, the nodes may be sequentially configured to be broadcast or discovery radio signal transmitter nodes. Unlike the first approach, when a node is composed of a broadcast node, the node does not need to detect and measure a new radio link at least in the node discovery phase. Hierarchical allocation for creating bipartite graphs can also be performed. In one variation, the dichotomy graph generation is not performed together, and the hierarchical assignment is to facilitate the topology search procedure.

Here, it is assumed that a node has multiple sectors, and each sector can be configured as an access point (AP) or a station (STA). Although the description is made under the assumption that the broadcast sector is composed of an AP and the listening sector is composed of an STA, the approach can also be applied to a node operating in the P2P mode. In this case, instead of the AP or STA, the configuration may be a discovery radio signal transmitter or receiver.

Step 1: n=tier index=0. A node connected by wire to the gateway may be set as the T0 node. A sector of a node may be composed of an AP. In all other nodes, a sector may be configured as an STA.

Step 2: All STA sectors may detect and attempt to measure a Tn AP (indicated by Tn measurement). The Tn measurement result generated for each sector of the node may be reported to the network control node. This may be one measurement period for generating a Tn measurement.

Step 3: Tn measurement results can be ordered from strongest to weakest. When the sorted list is displayed as a Tn list, a list of discovered nodes may be displayed in response to a discovery radio signal broadcast of a node of layer n. This step can be performed by the network control node.

Step 4: While the Tn list is not empty, the sector corresponding to the (strongest) first item in the Tn list may be composed of Tn+1 STAs, and all other sectors of the same node may be composed of Tn+1 APs. .

In one variation, all sectors of the same node corresponding to the first item in the Tn list can be configured as APs. This may have the advantage of expanding the node discovery area/range of the node.

All remaining STAs may measure a new Tn+1 AP and report the result to the network control node.

If a sector measures and reports a Tn+1 measurement that is more powerful than a Tn measurement, the node may be a Tn+2 node. You can remove this node (and its sector) from the Tn list and add the node (and its sector) to the Tn+1 list.

The first item in the Tn list and all sectors belonging to the corresponding node can be removed from the Tn list.

End

n:=n+1.

Step 5: If the Tn list is empty, the algorithm can be terminated. If the Tn list is not empty, step 4 can be repeated.

After the node is configured as a broadcast node, the node can continuously broadcast the discovery radio signal until it receives a stop command (from the network control node). Alternatively, the node may transmit the discovery radio signal only during one detection or measurement period.

There may be a separate wired or wireless channel that directly connects each node to the network control node to transmit the measurement report and control command, but this is not an essential assumption of the present disclosure, and there is no direct channel to the network control node. It can be easily extended to cases.

12 shows the network topology after applying the second approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology 1200 shown in FIG. 12 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

The final network topology after applying the steps to the network in FIG. 11 is shown in FIG. 12.

The steps of the second approach are further described in FIG. 13 with another example of five nodes equipped with two panels or sectors in each node. The discovery radio signal for detection and measurement may be represented by a “beacon” signal.

13A shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1302 illustrated in FIG. 13A is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 13A shows an initial state.

13B shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes of time instance 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1304 illustrated in FIG. 13B is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 13B illustrates that a node having a wired connection is configured as an access point (AP) and transmits a beacon.

13C shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes of time instance 3 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1306 illustrated in FIG. 13C is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 13C illustrates detection and measurement of beacons by STAs (stations) 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, and 4a. SSID (service set identifier) RSSI (received signal strength indicator) measurement result: M(1,2a)>M(1,3a)>M(1,2b)>M(1,3B)>M(1,4a) .

13D shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 4 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1308 illustrated in FIG. 13D is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13D, in the case of a node in which the strongest sector measurement is registered, another sector of the same node may be replaced with an access point (AP). Since M(1,2a) is the strongest measure, we can start with node 2.

13E shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 5 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1310 shown in FIG. 13E is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13E, since M(2b, 4a)>M(1,4a), node 4 may be a T2 node. M(1,3a)>M(2b,3a). M(1,3b)<M(2b,3b). Since M(1,3a)>M(2b,3a), node 3 may be a T1 node.

13F shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 6 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1312 shown in FIG. 13F is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 13F illustrates conversion of sector 3b to an access point (AP).

13G shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 7 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1314 shown in FIG. 13G is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 13G, measurements M(3b, 4a), M(3b, 4d) and M(3b, 5a) can be obtained.

13H shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for 5 nodes of time instance 8 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1316 shown in FIG. 13H is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 13H, sector 5b may be converted to an AP.

13I shows a second approach of a network initialization protocol for five nodes according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the second approach 1318 shown in FIG. 13I is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13I, a final mesh network may be formed based on layer allocation.

In the third approach to network discovery, it can be assumed that nodes other than nodes with fiber connections are not equipped with additional control channels (e.g., Ethernet or additional wireless channels). Only fiber nodes may include an out of band control channel. Starting with the fiber nodes, the remaining nodes can be discovered. During this discovery process, each node may perform discovery radio signal broadcasting (eg, sector level sweep (SLS)) to discover a neighbor at most once.

Node discovery can be achieved when the relevant node reports relevant information such as successful detection of the node performing the SLS and the node identification measurement result. When the discovery process is completed, various measurement results such as a node/sector identity (ID) and a signal interference noise ratio (SINR) corresponding (to a node performing SLS) may be obtained. The algorithm can be visualized in two ways. The first may be order based discovery, and the second may be best-node-first discovery. In the case of order-based discovery starting from a fiber node, neighbors can be discovered by performing SLS.

The first node discovered during SLS may be the next node performing SLS, and this process may continue until all nodes are discovered or the necessary information for measurement statistics is obtained. In the case of the best node-first search, neighbors can be found by performing SLS, starting from a fiber node. When neighbors are found, we know which node is the best neighbor and that the neighbor performs SLS to discover additional nodes. By considering the best neighbor first, a relatively stable control path from each and every node to the fiber node can be obtained. The fiber node can collect all measurement information and transmit it to the network control node for further processing.

In Figs. 14 to 21, in an example with five nodes including one node that is an optical fiber node, an algorithm is described. The arrows indicate the radio signal detection and measurement activity of the transmitter node. Some of the main terms used in the current algorithm are as follows. Queue (list of nodes that have not performed sector-level sweeping, the first element of the queue represents the current node performing SLS), visited (list of nodes already discovered), neighbors (currently List of nodes found in a node), children (nodes whose given node is the parent).

14 shows process 1 of a third approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of process 1 of the third approach 1400 shown in FIG. 14 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In process 1 of FIG. 14, the optical fiber node 1 may perform a sector level sweep (SLS) and search for nodes 2 and 4.

15 shows a process 2 of a third approach (order based discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of process 2 of the third approach (order-based discovery) 1500 shown in FIG. 15 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In process 2 of FIG. 15, node 2 or node 4 next performs a sector level sweep (SLS) according to an algorithm (eg, order based discovery, best-node-first discovery). You can do it. In the case where node 2 is the first node to be discovered in order-based discovery, node 2 may be the next node that performs SLS and discovers a neighbor. However, if the link between node 1 and node 4 has a higher signal interference noise ratio (SINR) (or other metric), in the case of best node-first discovery, node 4 can be considered the best node, and node 4 Next, SLS can be performed. As shown in FIG. 15, in order-based discovery, node 2 is first placed in a queue, and nodes 1, 4, and 2 may be maintained in a visited state.

16 shows a process 2 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of step 2 of the third approach (best-node-first discovery) illustrated in FIG. 16 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In the best node-first discovery as shown in FIG. 16, node 4 is first placed in a queue, and nodes 1, 4, and 2 may be kept in a visited state.

17 shows a process 3 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of step 3 of the third approach (best-node-first discovery) illustrated in FIG. 17 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In an additional step, only the best node-first search algorithm is further described. As shown in FIG. 17, in step 3, node 4 performs a sector level sweep (SLS) and discovers neighboring nodes 1, 2, and 5. As shown in FIG. Since nodes 1 and 2 have already been discovered, the node may report that nodes 1 and 2 have already been discovered. Nodes 1 and 2 can report all necessary measurement statistics. Node 5 may be placed in the queue as selected by node 4. Child=[5] may indicate a path to reach node 5 through node 4. Nodes 1, 4, 2, and 5 can be maintained in a visited state.

18 shows a process 4 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of step 4 of the third approach (best-node-first discovery) illustrated in FIG. 18 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 18, node 2 is the next element of a queue and may perform a sector level sweep (SLS). Nodes 1 and 3 can be discovered. However, node 1 can report that only node 3 is in the queue since node 1 has already been discovered. Children=[3] may represent a path to reach node 3 through node 2. Nodes 1, 4, 2, 5, and 3 can be maintained in a visited state.

19 shows a process 5 of a third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of step 5 of the third approach (best-node-first discovery) illustrated in FIG. 19 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 19, node 5 is the next element of the queue and may perform a sector level sweep (SLS). Nodes 2 and 3 can be discovered. However, since these nodes have already been discovered, it can be reported that there are no nodes placed in the queue. Necessary measurement metrics may be collected from neighbor nodes, but measurement metrics may not perform SLS again.

20 shows another process 5 of the third approach (best node first discovery) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of step 5 of the third approach (best-node-first discovery) 2000 shown in FIG. 20 is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 20, in process 6 similar to process 5, node 3 may perform a sector level sweep (SLS) and discover nodes 2 and 4. Since these nodes have already been discovered, the queue may not be updated. The above can be repeated until all nodes are fully discovered.

21 shows a tree generated based on a third approach according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the tree 2100 shown in FIG. 21 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

When the algorithm converges, a tree can be obtained for a given number of nodes rooted in the optical fiber node, and the number of trees may vary depending on the number of optical fiber nodes. All signaling information mentioned above must be able to be shared with neighbors, and must be able to be forwarded back to the fiber optic node so that the network control node can easily receive the neighbor information for further processing related to link selection and routing. do.

22 is a flowchart illustrating a third approach method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the third approach 2200 shown in FIG. 22 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 22, in a process 2205, a sector level sweep (SLS) is performed and a neighbor may be found. If the node has not already been visited in the process 2210, the process 2215 may be performed. If the node has already been visited in the process 2210, the process 2220 may be performed. In step 2215, in order to search according to a selected algorithm such as an order-based discovery or an optimal node, it is necessary to first select a next node and perform SLS. Finally, in step 2220, it may be determined whether there are any remaining nodes. If there are no nodes left in the process 2220, the process may proceed to the process 2205.

In one embodiment, different approaches may be applied at different stages of network operation. For example, the second approach can be applied in the network initialization step. However, in the normal operation or maintenance phase of the network, the first approach can be applied to one or more groups of nodes in the network.

In one embodiment, the control signaling input to the relay node may be a node type, i.e., a transmitter or a receiver, and related configuration information described in Table 7. New control signaling may be applied to each node in each time instance described in FIGS. 10A-10E or 13A-13I. Control signaling may be provided through an out-of-band control channel or another node connected to a relay node.

In another embodiment, the node discovery control configuration over a time period may be signaled at all nodes at once to realize the processes shown in Figs. 10A-10E. In particular, the configuration can be defined to specify the detection/measurement pattern over time as well as the discovery radio signal transmission pattern (time offset and periodicity) over time. For example, as shown in FIG. 23, five configurations may be defined, and in the examples of FIGS. 10A to 10E, each node may receive a signal with a different configuration. After performing the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) patterns for a certain period of time, the measurement result may be reported.

23 illustrates a configuration of a transmission and reception pattern over time according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the configuration of the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) pattern 2300 shown in FIG. 23 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Depending on the capabilities of the physical layer radio technology assumed for mesh network deployment, not all parameters may or may not be possible. The relay node may have different functions depending on the supported version and design. The function of the node can first be reported to the network controller. For example, it may be reported as part of a node registration message to activate an appropriate node discovery configuration at the network controller.

The purpose of link selection may be to allow the network to maintain a sufficiently small set of links to kill the overhead of maintaining the target link, which ensures minimal robustness, reliability and performance of the network.

24 illustrates a network topology after a first pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology 2400 shown in FIG. 24 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In the first method of link selection, a link having a quality exceeding a threshold value may be selected. In the example of Table 5, when the threshold value is configured as 23, the link between nodes 3 and 4 may be removed, resulting in a final network topology shown in FIG. 24.

25 illustrates over-pruning according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of over-pruning 2500 shown in FIG. 25 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Careful design considerations for threshold values may be required. Otherwise, a tree or a separate aggregate node can be obtained. For example, if the threshold value is set to 30, the link between nodes 4 and 5 may be removed as shown in FIG. 25.

In the second method of link selection, there may be a maximum number of links that can be connected to a node. Until the maximum number per node is reached, the link with the best quality may be selected first and then the second best link. For example, when the maximum number per node is 2, a link from node 3 to node 4 and a link from node 5 to node 2 may be removed as shown in Table 9.

26 illustrates a network topology after a second pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology 2600 shown in FIG. 26 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 26 may show the final network topology result.

The example above does not explicitly show the sectors or panels of each node, but the protocol can be easily extended to take into account nodes with multiple sectors or panels. In the third method of link selection, spatially related links are selected. Priority can be removed from. In other words, a link that does not meet the minimum spatial correlation threshold for a stronger link may be removed from the selection. An advantage of this link selection criterion may be to improve spatial diversity such that a signal blocking event is less likely to cause blocking of other links.

In one embodiment, it may be beneficial to impose a half-duplex constraint on each node. That is, each node transmits or receives at any one time, but not both. This can prevent self-interference in which the signal transmission of the node interferes with the signal reception of the node. One way to guarantee half-duplex constraints could be to set up the network as a bipartite graph. (That is, there are no odd periods in the graph.) In one method of generating a bipartite graph, a donor base station (BS) node can be assigned as a tier 0 node. Nodes connected to Tier 0 can be assigned Tier 1. The process can be repeated until all nodes have been assigned a hierarchical index. Only links between adjacent layers can be maintained and all links can be removed for the rest. For example, links between nodes of the same layer may be removed. Taking the network shown in FIG. 24 as an example, the network after performing the above-described steps is shown in FIG. 27.

27 illustrates another network topology after a second pruning operation according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology 2700 shown in FIG. 27 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

28A illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Tx according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of multiple transmission/reception of the Multi-Tx 2802 shown in FIG. 28A is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

28B illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of multiple transmission/reception of the Multi-Rx 2804 shown in FIG. 28B is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

28C illustrates different cases of multiple transmission/reception of Multi-Tx-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of multiple transmission/reception of the Multi-Tx-Rx 2806 shown in FIG. 28C is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

If there is only one operating channel for a mesh network with multiple wireless nodes, self-interference can be a serious problem. To reduce self-interference, each node can transmit or receive only at a given time. For example, in Figs. 28A-28C, Figs. 28A and 28B may be tolerated, while Fig. 28C may not be tolerated due to the possibility of large self-interference.

29A illustrates a TDD-based protocol of Multi-Tx according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the timed division duplex (TDD) based protocol of the multi-Tx 2902 illustrated in FIG. 29A is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

29B illustrates a TDD-based protocol of Multi-Rx according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the time division duplex (TDD) based protocol of the Multi-Rx 2904 shown in FIG. 29B is for illustration only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

To reduce interference, a TDD transmission mode may be provided, which may be indicated in FIGS. 29A and 29B. In odd time slots, all sectors of node 1 can transmit and sectors of nodes 2 and 3 can receive. In even time slots, all sectors of node 1 can receive and sectors of nodes 2 and 3 can transmit. To achieve TDD mode with commercial wireless fidelity (WiFi) chipsets, there can be two problems. First, it may be necessary to disable the carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) mechanism used in WiFi. Second, ACK (acknowledgement)/block ACK cannot be transmitted immediately and may need to be re-booked in the next appropriate time slot.

In the case of multiple operating channels, the above mentioned issues may no longer be relevant. It can also reduce interference and improve network capacity. The channel allocation problem can be solved with an "edge-coloring" algorithm. Nodes in a mesh network can be treated as vertices in the graph, and links between nodes can be treated as edges. "Color" may correspond to a channel in the mesh network. The "edge coloring algorithm" can "color" the edges adjacent to the same vertex with different "colors". That is, links connected to the same node may be assigned to different channels.

30 illustrates channel allocation in a street grid network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the channel allocation 3000 shown in FIG. 30 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Assigning channels may be shown using an example of a street grid layout scenario in which nodes are placed in a square/rectangular grid. It can be assumed that each node has four antenna panels. When four channels are available, a method of allocating channels may be shown in FIG. 30. Here, the number in the picture may be a channel index. Different sectors can use different channels for each node.

31 illustrates channel allocation in a hexagonal grid network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the channel allocation 3100 shown in FIG. 31 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In the second example, the nodes can have three sectors and are arranged in a hexagonal grid. The channel allocation to be provided may be shown in FIG. 31. Three channels may suffice in this example.

An example of an edge coloring algorithm may be a greedy algorithm. In the case of edge coloring, the number of colors cannot be less than the maximum order Δ of the graph. Also, by Vizing's theorem, the edges of all simple directionless graphs can be colored using colors that are at most one greater than the maximum order Δ of the graph. Thus, the number of colors required may be between Δ and Δ+1.

It can be assumed that there are enough colors/channels so far. If there are more sectors than the number of channels available to a particular node in the mesh network, the edge color algorithm may not have a solution. In this case, it can be instructed to relax the constraint by allowing a specific node to use the same channel more than once.

Self-interference can be caused primarily by side lobe leakage, and when the side lobe is farther away from the main lobe, the side lobe's energy tends to decrease. Accordingly, sectors of the same node with large angular separation can use the same channel. The angular separation threshold may be selected according to the hardware function or implementation, the number of channels, and the maximum level of the network. For example, in the previous example in which self-interference is not allowed, the threshold value may be infinite. The channel allocation problem can be solved by formulating the vertex color problem. Each link in the mesh network can be treated as a vertex.

32A shows the original network topology and corresponding line graphs for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the original network topology and corresponding line graph 3202 shown in FIG. 32A is for illustration only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

32B shows another original network topology and a corresponding line graph for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the original network topology and corresponding line graph 3204 shown in FIG. 32B is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

32C shows another original network topology and a corresponding line graph for two different threshold selections according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the original network topology and corresponding line graph 3206 shown in FIG. 32C is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

If the angular separation is less than the threshold, there may be an edge connecting the two vertices representing the two links. After constructing the graph, you can use the vertex coloring algorithm. In the example shown in FIG. 32A, node A equipped with four sectors may be connected to nodes B, C, D, and E of the network. In order to apply the vertex coloring algorithm, the network can be transformed into the corresponding line graphs shown in Figs. 32B and 32C.

The line graph of graph G may be another graph L(G) indicating the proximity between the digits of G. In FIGS. 32B and 32C, there may be four vertices representing four links A-B, A-C, A-D and A-E. In FIG. 32B, the threshold value is 0°, and all four vertices may be connected. Thus, links A-B, A-C, A-D and A-E can be colored with different colors/channels in the following vertex coloring algorithm. In contrast, there can be only one edge in Figure 32C where the threshold is assumed to be 60°. Therefore, only links A-C and A-D may have to use different colors/channels.

The following diagram may show another example of allocating two channels in a street grid network. A link in the horizontal direction can use channel 1 and a link in the vertical direction can use channel 2. Even in this example, a link separated by 180 degrees may be transmitted on the same channel.

33 illustrates channel allocation in a street grid network having two channels according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the channel allocation 3300 shown in FIG. 33 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Finally, the inputs and outputs of the method can be found in Table 6. The number of channels, network topology and threshold angle can be inputs. The method can output whether or not there is a viable solution. If found, the channel assignment can be output.

34 is a flowchart of a channel allocation method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the channel allocation method 3400 shown in FIG. 34 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

The channel allocation method may be summarized in the flowchart shown in FIG. 34. In operation 3402, the method may first determine whether N is greater than or equal to Δ+1. If it is greater than or equal to, step 3404 can be performed. In the process 3404, there may always be possible channel allocation by the Vizing theorem. In step 3406, the result of the edge-coloring algorithm may be returned to the channel allocation solution.

In step 3402, if N is less than Δ+1, step 3408 may be performed. In step 3408, a corresponding line graph L(G) may be generated based on the threshold value T and the network topology G. In step 3410, the vertex of L(G) may be colored with N color. In process 3412 it may be determined whether there is a viable solution. In step 3412, if there is a viable solution, step 3414 may be performed. As the channel allocation solution is returned in the process 3414, a vertex coloring result L(G) may occur. In step 3412, if there is no solution, step 3416 may be performed. In process 3416, it may be reported that no viable channel assignment has been found.

If not, the graph can be created and the vertex coloring algorithm can be performed. This algorithm can be run on a central controller that controls or manages the mesh network topology. Input may be collected from the mesh node through a control channel, which may be an in-band control channel or an out-of-band control channel. The output, which is the channel assignment decision, can be transmitted and configured to each mesh node over the control channel.

35A illustrates polarity assignment of a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of polarity assignment 3502 shown in FIG. 35A is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In order to reduce self-interference, a time division duplex (TDD) scheme may be provided. In the so-called 2-Phase (2P) protocol, nodes of a network can be divided into two categories, indicated by even nodes and odd nodes, respectively, as shown in FIG. 35A.

Even nodes can transmit even time slots and vice versa. The separation process can be referred to as polarity assignment. Polarity may need to be carefully assigned to ensure there are no transmission collisions. For example, if the same polarity is assigned to two adjacent nodes, communication between two adjacent nodes is synchronized during transmission and reception, and thus communication between them may not be allowed. As a result, the achievable speed of the network can be compromised. Algorithms can be provided to solve this problem. The algorithm can be based on integer linear programming (ILP).

35B illustrates a network flow problem with an artificial source node and a sink node according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network flow problem 3504 shown in FIG. 35B is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 35B, two artificial nodes may be created to represent a source node and a sink node. The problem may be maximizing the network flow between the source and sink.

In a formulated optimization problem, the goal may be to maximize the flow from the artificial source node to the artificial sink node. Binary variables can be used to indicate the polarity of nodes. In the case of an even node, p _i =0, in the case of an odd node, p _i =1. F _i,j may be a flow between node i and node j. M may be a sufficiently large value, which is the upper limit of the link ratio between the source (sink) node and the even (odd) node. In addition, the link speed between nodes i and j may satisfy _{F i,j} <=min{p _i +p _j , 2-p _i -p _j } * C _i,j. Here, C _i,j may be a radio link capacity between node i and node j. C _i,j can be calculated assuming no interference. The reason may be to separate link scheduling and topology establishment. min{ p _i +p _j , 2-p _i -p _j } may _{be 0 if p i} =p _j and 1 otherwise. That is, only links with different polarities at the two ends can be allowed. Integer programming problems can be solved efficiently through branching and binding algorithms, for example.

The notation of the algorithm can be summarized in Table 11. As shown in Table 11, {C _i,j } can be the input of the algorithm and {p _i , f _i,j , f _s,i , f _i,d } can be the output. Our interest may be in the polarity assignment, i.e. p _i .

36 is a flowchart of a polarity allocation method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the polarity assignment method 3600 shown in FIG. 36 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

This algorithm could be a centralized method that can be run on a central controller. In step 3602, each node pair of the network may measure the channel capacity between each node pair and report the measured channel capacity to the central controller. _{Assuming a global knowledge of C i,j} for each pair of (i, j) and a sufficiently large M for the artificial link, the central controller can run an integer linear programming algorithm _{to obtain the p i} value, i.e. polarity assignment . Then it could be sent back to individual mesh nodes. In step 3604, the node may report the link capacity to the central controller. In process 3606 the central controller can solve the integer linear programming problem. Finally, in process 3608 the central controller may send a polarity assignment to each node. The flow chart of the algorithm may be shown in FIG. 36.

To deploy and operate a wireless mesh network consisting of multiple network (NW) nodes, the following (e.g. traffic load and (long-term) wireless backhaul link quality; dynamic routing control to overcome dynamic interference and signal blocking; It may be desirable to include a network controller or cloud control center (CCC) that provides functions including, but not limited to, fast error detection and recovery through rapid discovery. It may be necessary to design the network architecture and messaging format of the CCC and NW nodes.

37 illustrates a network architecture having a direct control channel between a CCC and an NW node according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network architecture 3700 shown in FIG. 37 is for illustrative purposes only, and FIG. 37 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, there may be a direct control or messaging channel between a mesh network (NW) node and a cloud control center (CCC). Here, the mesh NW node may refer to any communication node with a mesh function or a 60 GHz communication interface. The direct control channel may be provided through Ethernet, wireless fidelity (WiFi), or 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) wireless access technology. This network architecture may be referred to as architecture A in this disclosure as shown in FIG. 37. In this NW, the network controller can be connected to a relay node and a donor base station (BS) via a control channel. Here, the relay node and the donor BS may refer to all communication nodes with mesh function or 60 GHz communication interference.

In this structure, control signaling of the mesh network, for example, topology information, link connection information, and routing information can be exchanged through a control channel. Data between mesh nodes may be transmitted through a 60GHz interface. In this architecture, the main network-level functions of the mesh network can be performed by the network controller. For example, routing calculations, network topology formulations, link connectivity checks, etc. can be calculated at the network controller. The network controller can be a PC, server or cloud.

38 shows a network architecture 3800 without a direct control channel between a CCC and an NW node according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network architecture 3800 shown in FIG. 38 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In another embodiment, there may be a direct control or messaging channel between a donor node and a cloud control center (CCC), but no direct control channel between the relay node and the CCC. Control messages between the CCC and the relay node can be routed through the donor node and potentially other relay nodes in the mesh network. The direct control channel between the donor node and the CCC may be provided through Ethernet, Wi-Fi or 3GPP radio access technology. The control channel between NW nodes may be based on radio access technology (RAT) of the mesh network. This network architecture may be referred to as architecture B in this disclosure as illustrated in FIG. 38.

In architecture B, the network controller can directly exchange control signals with the donor BS. The donor BS and the relay node can communicate both control signals and data through RAT. In Architecture B, before the network transmits data, the network can transmit/broadcast control information to form a network by collecting topology information, routing information, etc. first. After gathering network information, routing/topology configuration can be distributed to each node or centrally processed in the control center.

In one embodiment for network controller design, one of the functions of the network controller may be to determine the network topology based on measurement data from the NW node. Another function may be to determine the routing table of the network.

39 illustrates a state machine for network topology management according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of a state machine for network topology management 3900 shown in FIG. 39 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

One of the network topology management methods may be through network measurement shown in FIG. 39. The control center can first send a command requesting each node to perform measurements. Here, the measurement may be a received signal/power intensity and/or throughput and/or a packet error rate. After receiving the measurement command from the control center, each node can perform measurement according to the measurement command. After collecting the measurements, you can perform topology calculations in the control center. After the control center has obtained the topology, the control center can send a command to configure the furnace to each node. The command may include information such as an access point (AP)/station (STA) configuration, a channel to be worked on, and/or an AP connected to when the node is configured as an STA node.

40 illustrates a signaling flow between a control center and a mesh node for topology calculation according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the signal flow 4000 shown in FIG. 40 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

40 may show an example of a signaling system between a control center and a mesh node for topology formation. In order to collect the measurements, the control center may first send a MAC (media access control) address and a command to configure the role of the mesh node. That is, the mesh node may be an access point (AP) node or a station (STA) node. After receiving the configuration command, each mesh node can execute the command and send ACK information after completing the command. After collecting all or part of the MAC layer acknowledgment (ACK), the control center may send an IP (internet protocol) layer configuration command to each mesh node. Each mesh node can configure each mesh's IP address according to the command received.

After completing the IP configuration, each mesh node can send an IP configuration ACK packet to the control center. After receiving all or part of the IP configuration ACK packet, the control center can send a measurement command to each mesh node. Mesh nodes can perform/collect measurements and send them to the control center. The control center can perform topology calculations and send topology commands to each mesh node. Topology commands may include mesh node MAC layer configuration commands and IP layer configuration commands as previously indicated.

41 illustrates a network topology functional flow diagram in CCC according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology function flow diagram 4100 shown in FIG. 41 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 41, in operation 4102 the system may be initialized. In operation 4104, a node media access control (MAC) may be configured and a node internet protocol (IP) may be configured in operation 4106. Measurements may be performed in operation 4108. In operation 4108, it may be determined whether the measurement is complete, otherwise operation 4104 may be repeated. When the measurement is completed in operation 4110, the topology may be calculated in operation 4112. In operation 4114, a node MAC may be configured. Finally, in operation 4116, the node IP may be configured.

42 illustrates a network topology functional block diagram in CCC according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network topology functional block diagram 4200 shown in FIG. 42 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

41 may show one example of a detailed flowchart for a processing process of a control center part for topology formulation.

42 may show one of an example of an implementation structure of the control center. In the network layer, a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) server application programming interface (API) may be used. At the top of the TCP/IP layer may be a message protocol containing configuration commands and measurement commands. After the topology/routing algorithm has finished calculating the topology/routing, the control center can send commands/configurations to each mesh node using the message protocol.

43A shows a flow diagram at the control center for the overall routing and topology formula according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the flowchart 4300 shown in FIG. 43A is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

43B shows a flow diagram at the control center for the overall routing and topology formulation according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the flowchart 4350 shown in FIG. 43B is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

43A and 43B may show a flow diagram of the control center for the overall routing and topology formulation.

As described in FIGS. 43A and 43B, in operation 4302, a graphic user interface (GUI) and a socket may be started. In operation 4304, the control center may wait for a registration request message. The control center may receive the registration request message and add the node to the network in operation 4306. In operation 4308, the control center may determine whether to fetch a registered fiber node and the number of registered nodes may be greater than N_reg. In operation 4310, the control center transmits a MAC configuration request message to set node i as an access point (AP) and another node as a station (STA). In operation 4312, the control center may wait for a media access control (MAC) setup response message. In operation 4314, the control center may determine whether the number of received MAC configuration response messages is greater than N_macresp. In operation 4316, the control center may send an Internet Protocol (IP) configuration request message. In operation 4318, the control center may determine whether the number of received IP configuration response messages is greater than N_Ipresp. In operation 4320, the control center may transmit a measurement request message to each STA node. In operation 4322, the control center may wait for a measurement response message. In operation 4334, the control center may determine whether the number of received measurement response messages is greater than N_measresp. In operation 4326, the control center may determine whether i>N_shedAP. In operation 4328, the control center may calculate a topology and path for resource allocation. In operation 4330, the control center may transmit a MAC configuration request message to each node. In operation 4332, the control center may check whether the number of received MAC configuration response messages is greater than N_MACresp. In operation 4334, the control center may transmit a MAC link request message. In operation 4336, the control center may determine that the number of received MAC link response messages is greater than N_MACLinkresp. In operation 4338, the control center may send an IP configuration request message to each node. In operation 4340, the control center may wait for an IP configuration response message. In operation 4432, the control center may determine whether the number of received IP configuration response messages is greater than N_IPresp. In operation 4344, the control center may transmit a link detection request message. In operation 4346, the control center may check whether the number of received link detection response messages is greater than the N_link detection response. In operation 4348, the control center may configure the network to be ready.

44 illustrates a signal flow between a control center and a mesh node for routing and topology according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the signal flow 4400 shown in FIG. 44 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

45 illustrates a mesh node software architecture in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the mesh node software architecture 4500 shown in FIG. 45 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, a scheme for the design of mesh nodes may be presented. In the present disclosure, a mesh node may refer to a communication node having mmWave and beamforming capabilities. The implementation of network (NW) management can be located in the user space of the software. NW management can be responsible for communication with the control center. For example, NW management can receive routing commands from the control center and consolidate routing tables. On the kernel side, low-level drivers can be added to further accelerate control of the mesh chipset. Information between NW management and low-level drivers can be exchanged through system calls.

For example, when a mesh node receives a measurement command from the network control center, the command can first go to NW management. The network management can then call the low-level driver to get the correct measurement information. This measurement information can be transmitted back to the control center through NW management.

46 illustrates an information flow between a control center and a mesh node according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the information flow 4600 shown in FIG. 46 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

If the network (NW) low-level driver has no information, the NW driver can send more commands to the LMAC driver to get the information. This process can be seen in Figure 46.

47 illustrates a network node architecture (state machine) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the network (NW) node architecture 4700 shown in FIG. 47 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In one example, NW management may be implemented as shown in FIG. 47. Upon initialization, the node may move to an access point (AP)/station (STA) configuration state, a measurement state, an internet protocol (IP)/configuration station, and an application state. The phase transition can be triggered by the network control center or by the node itself.

48 illustrates a multi-thread architecture of network management according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the multi-threaded architecture 4800 shown in FIG. 48 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

48 may show one of examples of software architecture of network (NW) management. At the lower level there may be socket threads. The receive/transmit (Rx/Tx) thread can be in charge of message processing for the protocol. In addition, there may be a periodic link detection thread that detects link failure information.

In one embodiment, details of a communication protocol for a mesh network may be described. These messages may be designed to collect information and transmit commands and measurements between the control center and mesh nodes. Following messages (e.g. registration request message; registration response message; MAC configuration request message; MAC configuration response message; MAC link request message; MAC link response message; measurement request message; measurement response message; IP configuration request message; IP configuration response message) ; IP link detection request message; IP link detection response message; and/or a hello message/IP link report message) may be used for communication between the CCC and the NW node.

The following may be an example of a protocol implementation. In an example of a registration request message, the registration request message may be from a node to a control center. Each node can inform the control center that it is in the network, which is a component of this node, by sending a registration request message to the control center after powering on. Each message may be implemented as a subclass of the message, and the subclass may define, for example, a field and an offset of the field.

In an example of the registration response message, the registration response message may be transmitted from the control center to each node. Upon receiving the registration request message, the control center may send a response message to the node.

In one example of the configuration request message, the control center can determine how the node can configure the MAC layer of the node, for example, whether the node is an AP node or an STA node, which channel the node can perform; If the node is an AP node, this message can be used to indicate what the SSID for this AP is.

In one example of the MAC configuration response message, after receiving the MAC configuration request message, each node may send a response message to the control center to indicate whether the configuration was successful.

In an example of the MAC link request message, the MAC link request message may be transmitted from the control center to each node to request a node (if the node is an STA node) to connect to the AP of the node.

In an example of the MAC link response message, the MAC link response message may be transmitted from each node to a control center to indicate whether the MAC layer connection is successful.

In an example of the measurement request message, the measurement request message may be transmitted from the control center to each node to request measurement from each node.

In an example of the measurement response message, the measurement response message may be transmitted from each node to a control center to report a measurement result to the control center. Note: The size of the measurement response message may be dynamic depending on the number of Aps in the field.

In an example of the IP configuration request message, the IP configuration request message may be a message that is transmitted from the control center to each node and requests to set the IP address and routing table of each node.

Note: The structure of the table contents can be as follows. Note: IP addresses can follow the format: 192.168.1.XXX; The IP address of each BB module is 4 x (Node ID -1) + BB index.

In an example of the IP configuration response message, each node may respond to the IP configuration message to the control center.

In an example of the IP link detection request message, the control center may request the node to detect the IP link by sending this message to each node.

In one example of the IP link detection response message, each node may respond to the IP link detection request message. In one example of the IP link report message, each node sends a report message to the control center to indicate that a link failure has been detected. can send.

49 illustrates a GUI for a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the graphic user interface (GUI) 4900 shown in FIG. 49 is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, the GUI is designed to monitor network topology, routing, and throughput. Can be. Each node can have four states displayed in the GUI. The inactive state may mean that the node is not activated. That is, it may not have been registered on the network. The initialization state may mean that the node is performing initialization. That is, it may be reception/transmit (Rx/Tx) control information with the control center. Ready state can mean that the node has finished routing, the configuration is ready to become a relay node, and ready to handle traffic. The traffic state may mean that the node is transmitting some application traffic.

In one example, the results of some experiments of the mesh network may be displayed. A real proof-of-concept system can be implemented to verify the performance of the mesh network.

50 illustrates an example system architecture of a mesh network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the system architecture 5000 shown in FIG. 50 is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In Tables 25, 26, and 27, it can be shown that the mesh network can achieve about 1.7 Gbps for single hop transmission and 12.7 Gbps for multiple hop communication. In addition, a single node can achieve aggregated 5.4Gbps throughput.

51A illustrates a TDD solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the time division duplex (TDD) solution 5100 shown in FIG. 51A is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 51A, the receiving and outgoing links may use different time slots.

51B illustrates an FDD solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the frequency division duplex (FDD) solution 5120 shown in FIG. 51B is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 51B, different channels may be used for the incoming and outgoing links.

51C illustrates a TDMA solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the time division multiple access (TDMA) solution 5140 shown in FIG. 51C is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. 51C, only a single sector can be activated in each time slot.

51D illustrates an FDMA solution for intra-node interference according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the frequency division multiple access (FDMA) solution 5160 shown in FIG. 51D is for illustrative purposes only, and does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 51D, each sector can use a different channel. If there are many sectors in one node, the channel may not be sufficient.

Although the present disclosure has been described as an exemplary embodiment, various changes and modifications may be suggested to those skilled in the art. This disclosure may be intended to cover changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

No description in this application should be construed as implying that a particular element, step or function is an essential element that should be included in the claims. The scope of the patented subject matter may only be defined by the claims.

Claims (15)

In a network entity for communicating with a mesh network,
Transceiver; And
And a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor,
Receive, from a communication node of the mesh network, information including a network topology of the mesh network and an angle separation of antenna panels of a plurality of communication nodes within the mesh network,
Identifying a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes in the mesh network,
Determine whether the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node plus 1,
When the number of available channels is less than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of each communication node, at least one of the plurality of communication nodes is Identify potential connections,
A network entity configured to send a channel allocation decision to the communication node based on the at least one potential connection of the communication node.
The method of claim 1, wherein the processor,
Determine whether a channel allocation solution exists based on the availability of the at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes, using the number of available channels,
If the channel allocation solution is not available, a network entity configured to transmit a channel allocation decision indicating that the channel allocation solution is not provided.
The method of claim 1, wherein the processor,
Determine whether or not a channel allocation solution exists based on the availability of the at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes, using the number of available channels,
If the channel allocation solution is available, a network entity configured to transmit a channel allocation decision indicating that the channel allocation solution is to be provided.
The method of claim 1, wherein the processor,
Determine whether the number of usable channels is equal to or greater than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of each communication node
If the number of available channels is equal to or greater than the value associated with the number of links of each communication node plus 1, an edge coloring algorithm to identify a channel allocation solution for the communication node. The network entity that is configured to apply.
The method of claim 1, wherein the processor,
Configured to receive measurement results, from the communication node of the mesh network, to identify a set of links in the at least one potential connection,
The measurement results are determined based on a radio signal broadcasted from at least one neighboring node in the mesh network.
The method of claim 1,
The network entity is a control center node,
The threshold value is pre-configured based on information on angular separation of the antenna panels of the plurality of communication nodes,
A value related to the number of links of each communication node is determined as the maximum number of related links of the plurality of communication nodes.
The method of claim 1, wherein the processor,
A network entity configured to prohibit antenna panels with separation less than the threshold from using the same channel.
In the communication node of the mesh (mesh) network,
Transceiver; And
And a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor,
Transmitting information including an angle separation of antenna panels of a plurality of communication nodes of the mesh network and a network topology of the mesh network to a network entity,
Configured to receive a channel assignment determination based on at least one potential connection of the communication node from the network entity,
The channel allocation decision is determined based on whether the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes plus 1,
The at least one potential connection is identified based on the network topology and a threshold value of the mesh network when it is less than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of each communication node,
A value associated with the number of links of each communication node is identified.
The method of claim 8, wherein the processor,
When the channel allocation solution is not available, receiving a channel allocation decision indicating that the channel allocation solution is not provided, and
The channel allocation solution using the number of available channels is determined based on the availability of the at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes.
The method of claim 8, wherein the processor,
When the channel allocation solution is available, receiving a channel allocation decision indicating that the channel allocation solution is provided, and
The channel allocation solution using the number of available channels is determined based on the availability of the at least one potential connection of the plurality of communication nodes.
The method of claim 8,
When the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node plus 1, an edge coloring algorithm to identify a channel allocation solution for the communication node in the mesh network ( communication node to which edge coloring algorithm) is applied.
The method of claim 8, wherein the processor,
Configured to send measurement results to the network entity to identify a set of links in the at least one potential connection,
The measurement results are determined based on a radio signal broadcasted from at least one neighboring node of the mesh network.
The method of claim 8,
The network entity is a control center node,
The threshold value is pre-configured based on information on the angular separation of the antenna panels of the plurality of communication nodes,
A value related to the number of links of each communication node is determined as a maximum number of related links of the plurality of communication nodes.
The method of claim 8,
A communication node in which antenna panels having a separation less than the threshold value are prohibited from using the same channel.
In a method of operating a network entity to communicate with a mesh network,
Receiving, from a communication node of the mesh network, information including a network topology of the mesh network and an angle separation of antenna panels of a plurality of communication nodes within the mesh network;
Identifying a value related to the number of links of each communication node among the plurality of communication nodes in the mesh network;
Determining whether the number of available channels is greater than or equal to a value related to the number of links of each communication node plus 1;
When the number of available channels is less than a value obtained by adding 1 to a value related to the number of links of each communication node, at least one of the plurality of communication nodes is The process of identifying potential connections; And
And transmitting a channel allocation decision to the communication node based on the at least one potential connection of the communication node.

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